Testimonials

Encuentro makes El Paso/Juarez feel like home in just one week. They carry the suffering of others and the joy of accompaniment so beautifully. You will be impacted for life and motivated to act!

Encuentro Participant - Seattle Preparatory School

Read Testimonials from participants from Loyola Marymount University

  • We were able to listen to many stories that illustrated how Hispanic communities continued to hope despite the oppressive situation that surrounded them.

    When we crossed the border into Juarez, one of our stops was at a library built for the community. One community member made us fried tacos and we listened as she shared her story. As a mother of several children she lived in the poorest community in Juarez with her family. She described to us how when a charity group came to the community and offered to help her, God was made incarnate for her because she had no conception of being supported before. I talked with her after and she was so animated talking about how her oldest son is now an industrial engineer and the catechism program that she now helps with.

    This and many other stories we heard from the border are what I carry with me and am grateful I could experience it with a community I cherish.

  • I am grateful I had the chance to learn the truth about forced migration and asylum seeking with The Encuentro Project. I have been to the San Ysidro Border many times and believed there wasn’t much more to learn about migration justice – boy was I wrong! We discovered what makes El Paso distinct as a border city thanks to The Encuentro Project’s passionate, welcoming, and faith-filled staff and community partners. Please sign up for this inspiring and engaging encounter, you won’t regret it!

  • The Encuentro Project has offered an opportunity that I would have never participated in, and produced one of the most informative educational experiences of my lifetime. As a student, being able to spend a week learning about one of, if not the, most pressing matters in our nation was extremely beneficial and humanized the horror stories we frequently hear about immigration and migration. The Encuentro Project took 19 years of high-class American Education and contextualized it, putting together pieces of a puzzle that suddenly seemed much easier to understand. With a newfound understanding, I approach my classes differently and can truly see the extent to which cause and effect have shaped the border, America, and the world. Thank you so much to the Encuentro Project, and all who make it possible!

  • Students came in curious and left changed, after hearing from people who live the border reality every day and learning a history that most textbooks ignore. When young people face the truth directly, something important happens. Indifference starts to fade, empathy grows, and real change feels possible.

    Bro Miguel Garcia, FMS - Encuentro Project Volunteer

    Read the full testimonial here

  • Most [students] said they had some sort of desire to help those in need before they came on the trip, but they didn’t know what that looked like in real life. Through meeting these presenters, the Encuentro Project gave them models that showed them what a life of service in action could look like.

    Bro Ryan Richter - Encuentro Project Volunteer

    Read the full testimonial here

  • Not more fear and hatred of “the other,” but true peace and unity built through storytelling and mutual relationships. The migration experts who shared their compassion and hospitality with us ignited our curiosity and desire to help. I watched students face difficult truths and fuel their passion to bring their knowledge home with them.

    Katie Laskey - Seattle Preparatory School

    Read the full testimonial here

The Encuentro Project was so unique and special, yet it shouldn’t be. The information we learned throughout our time here should be taught to every person in America who forms an opinion on immigration, not just those who go out of their way to educate themselves

Encuentro Participant - Jesuit Portland High School

Ken Donaldson - University Detroit Mercy

“I feel like it's very, very, very hard to go on a trip like this and not be spiritual.

Just to not think about what would God feel about this? Well, how would God see the treatment of his people because everyone is God's people and these people.. they are starving, they need clothes, they're hungry, they're thirsty they need all these different necessities in a lot of times they go unchecked and uncared for.”

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